A Closer Look At The Stim.

... are probably aware by now that Gov. Ed's $29 billion budget for 2009-2010 relies on $3.5 billion worth of federal stimulus money over the next two years to help make ends meet.

And with 45 states now facing budget deficits, it's probably also no surprise that governors across this great land of ours are sitting at home dreaming up ways to spend whatever pennies Washington showers upon them.

So, with that in mind, here's a quick Mousketeer roll call of governors who are backing and opposed to the stim. We should probably note that even the governors who are opposed to Washington's largess aren't dumb enough to say "no" to piles of free cash, so you can make of that what you will.

By the way, we'd be utterly remiss if we didn't admit that the grunt work for all this data was put in by our colleagues from Capitolbeat, the national association of state government reporters. It's a fine group of people who are doing great and important work.Some information also comes from Stateline, an inexhaustible resource for those of us who cover state government.

The list starts after the gap.

On Monday, a bunch of governors (of both parties) wrote to President Barack Obama to express their support for the Stim and to urge its passage. As expected, their ranks includes Gov. Ed. Other signatories were:

ARKANSAS:Gov. Mike Beebe (D) seems excited about the money, especially stuff he could spend on roadsFLORIDA:Gov. Charlie Crist is in the vanguard of Republicans who have been actively lobbying on behalf of the Stim by doing national television interviews.

KANSAS:Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D) came up with a task force to figure out how to spend whatever money they get

LOUISIANA:Gov. Bobby Jindal is opposed, but will use the $2.5 billion over two years to help offset budget cuts.

KENTUCKY:Gov. Steve Beshear (D) seems pretty supportiveMARYLAND:Gov. Martin O'Malley pulled back a budget with somewhere around $2 billion
in cuts and Rainy Day Fund transfers in expectation of stimulus cash. Not clear if he's put it back yet in w/a supplemental
correcting for stimulus dollars ...MINNESOTA:Gov. Tim Pawlenty and his amazing hair are against the stimulus, and say reckless spending will drive up the deficit. But yeah, he's put a placeholder in his state budget for the expected cash.

MONTANA:Gov. Brian Schweitzer is trying to figure out how to spend the money.NEVADA:Gov. Jim Gibbons (R), facing a bear of a budget shortfall, sent a letter saying the $1.3 billion from the feds would help.NORTH CAROLINA:Gov. Bev Perdue is supposed to be at the House Democratic Caucus today promoting the Stim. From a press release: "Governor Perdue will urge congressional members to move quickly on a stimulus package that funds infrastructure and other economic development projects and that will put North Carolinians back to work as soon as possible."

OHIO:Gov. Ted Strickland is counting on $3.4 billion to balance his upcoming budget.SOUTH DAKOTA:Gov. Mike Rounds doesn't want the Legislature to depend on the money to pass its budget.

TENNESSEE:Gov. Phil Bredesen (D) is counting on the money in his budget, or it looks like he willU.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS:Gov. John deJongh Jr. is on Capitol Hill lobbying for it today (Friday).UTAH:Gov. Jon M. Huntsman (R) hedges a bit: "While we're not
reliant on a federal bailout in order to balance our books, this could
be considered a type of stimulus that we could benefit from."VIRGINIA:Gov. Tim Kaine ... total Kool-Aid drinker. He's DNC chairman. What's he gonna do? Say no? Also, his state is $3 billion the hole, and lawmakers are supposed to adjourn on Feb. 28.WEST VIRGINIA:Gov. Joe Manchin says "this country wasn't built on handouts. We didn't become leader of the free world by waiting on someone to give us a handout."Nonetheless, Manchin's hand is extended, he submitted a list of scores of stimulus-qualifying,
infrastructure-type projects totaling nearly $2.3 billion to the new
administration.

WISCONSIN:Gov. Jim Doyle (D) put off releasing his budget until he knows what’s in the stimulus